On Sept. 14, 2022, Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett spoke at an event hosted by Vanderbilt College Republicans (VCR) in which he discussed topics such as the For the People Act and claims of election fraud.
Hargett began the event by saying he appreciated the diversity of political beliefs in the room.
“One of the things I enjoy hearing a lot as well is how a lot of campus Democrats and Republicans are coming together, meeting and learning how to disagree without being disagreeable,” Hargett said. “This is also a great time to learn about more of your issues and be exposed to a lot of ideas that you haven’t heard or seen before because you can’t challenge your ideas if you don’t know the other side of things.”
During the event, a VCR member asked Hargett what his thoughts were about the possible passage of election bills such as H.R.1 (For The People Act), which would change campaign finance laws to reduce the influence of money in politics and ban partisan gerrymandering. Hargett said he believes the possible federalization of election laws through bills like H.R.1 is illegal.
“They are unconstitutional; it would have a one size fits all electoral system,” Hargett said. “Washington is a mail ballot state that works for people, but we are not. Our people like to be able to go into the polls and vote.”
Hargett added that the introduction of bills like these is a “power grab” from those of the opposing political party.
“I’ve never seen a group of people [Democrats] who’ve won the election, they’ve won the presidency, they’ve won the U.S. election, they won Congress, and then they want to change the rules about how many elections are being run,” Hargett said.
After the event, Hargett signaled that he enjoyed speaking with the attendees and encouraged them to look at college as a way of learning about different political ideologies.
“Very respectful, good questions, and what I want to see—and I’d say this if I were standing in front of a room of Republicans or Democrats—is to get involved,” Hargett said. “College is also a great time to be learning about more of your issues and being exposed to a lot of ideas that you haven’t heard or seen before because you can’t challenge your ideas if you don’t know the other side of things.”
First-year Noah Jenkins said Hargett’s political views are what drew him to this event.
“I am personally conservative, and I was particularly interested in the perspective that the Secretary of State had to bring regarding some of the events that happened during the 2020 election,” Jenkins said, “We’re here in college to learn, obviously, and I think the great part of learning is not only reading a $200 textbook, but experiential learning from those that have experienced life, both the left and the right.”
Some students were not pleased with Hargett’s presence on campus. Mumma said many posters advertising the VCR event across campus were ripped or taken down.
(Jaylan Sims)
Hargett said he was unphased by the posters promoting his appearance being taken down.
“I assume they want to take them and put them in their dorm room,” Hargett said. “I think we’ve got a lot of people on both sides of the aisle who would rather villainize somebody or vilify somebody rather than sit back and listen to them and figure out whether they agree with each other.
VCR hosted an event with Congressman Mark Green on Sept. 12, 2022. The group advertised the event by putting up flyers around campus. They were then accompanied by rebuttal posters encouraging students to go to the event and voice their concerns to Green.
